Superhero fatigue - is it real or does it come down to good storytelling? 2 2

[Bosco685]

 

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Doesn’t Think Audiences Will Ever Get Tired of Superhero Movies

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Will moviegoers ever get superhero fatigue? Marvel boss Kevin Feige doesn’t buy it, saying on a new podcast interview that there are 80 years of “groundbreaking” stories told in the Marvel comics that they can adapt into “different genres.”

 

“I’ve been at Marvel Studios for over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together,” Feige said on “The Movie Business Podcast,” hosted by Jason E. Squire, an author and professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. “From probably my second year at Marvel, people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end?'”

 

Feige continued, “I didn’t really understand the question. Because to me, it was akin to saying after ‘Gone With the Wind,’ ‘Well, how many more movies can be made off of novels? Do you think the audience will sour on movies being adapted from books?’ You would never ask that because there’s an inherent understanding among most people that a book can be anything. A novel can have any type of story whatsoever. So it all depends on what story you’re translating. Non-comic readers don’t understand that it’s the same thing in comics.”

 

Referencing the rich catalog of Marvel comics, which date back to 1939, Feige said there are countless stories for the studio to adapt in various genres.

 

“There’s 80 years of the most interesting, emotional, groundbreaking stories that have been told in the Marvel comics, and it is our great privilege to be able to take what we have and adapt them,” he said. “Another way to do that is adapting them into different genres, and what types of movies we want to make.”

 

Feige concluded, “I found that if we tell the story right, and we adapt them in a way that the audience still — knock on wood so far — is following us along 22-plus years later… we can [make] any types of movies that share two things: the Marvel Studios logo above the title and a seed of an idea from our publishing history.”

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Listen to Feige’s full interview on “The Movie Business Podcast” here.

 

[Ken Aldred]

Formulaic, repetitive writing eventually bores and induces fatigue.

Poorly constructed films; rushed out, with pacing, dialogue and tone which don't work, eventually alienates the audience.

If putting quantity over quality eventually leads to this, I have no sympathy. I'm already bored.

Maybe it's just another corporate mouthpiece wanting to assume that we're all brainless, sheepish, addicted zombies, thinking the same way, his way, Disney's way, which is clear lack of theory of mind, and wrong.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[piper]

Good story telling is the key!

[theCapraAegagrus]

Feige makes all of his directors watch 1978's Superman, as a blueprint on how to make movies, and thinks that won't get stale...?

[MattTheDuck]

The "superheroes" genre is just a vehicle to tell whatever stories of revealed truth a writer/director/producer wants to tell. There's no such thing as a theme that's unique or has never been used before. It appears to me there's some minimum audience for virtually any good storytelling in any genre. 

It 100 percent comes down to the writing/storytelling/performances.  Audiences will never get tired of seeing well-written, well-acted movies of all genres.  

[Gatsby77]

Storytelling - duh.

Shang-Chi, Eternals, Morbius and Black Adam didn't bomb because of "superhero fatigue."

They bombed because they sucked.

More specifically, they didn't offer audiences anything they hadn't seen (and done far better) before.

[seanfingh]

I love superheroes more than 99.99% of the world, and I have superhero fatigue.

But a great superhero story is still great.  It's just that there have been so many poor to mediocre movies lately.

[bc]

On 1/27/2023 at 1:41 PM, seanfingh said:

I love superheroes more than 99.99% of the world, and I have superhero fatigue.

But a great superhero story is still great.  It's just that there have been so many poor to mediocre movies lately.

+1

-bc

[Axelrod]

I think you can get "Big climactic CGI fight" fatigue.  

[Readcomix]

Little of both…certainly easier to get fatigued when they keep rolling out clunkers (don’t give me revenue arguments to prove something is not a clunker, content-wise. A box office success because a lot of people gave something a chance - based on actors, characters, previous movies from the same shop etc. - doesn’t mean everyone came out loving it. Just the nature of movies; they can ring the register but not be loved by those who spent to see it, obviously.)

Anyway, my 2 cents is the MCU comedy touch is wearing thin with loyalists, if I had to guess. Fine for the studio if it built them a new audience to replace the comic book traditionalists, for lack of a better term. But I don’t think they’re replacing the folks who wanted to see something close to bronze/copper comic books coming to life, which seemed to me to be the core audience of the first phases. 

But I’m a casual observer from just being in the theater for them, just an N of 1. 

[Bosco685]

On 1/27/2023 at 1:41 PM, seanfingh said:

I love superheroes more than 99.99% of the world, and I have superhero fatigue.

But a great superhero story is still great.  It's just that there have been so many poor to mediocre movies lately.

[sfcityduck]

I was getting Star Wars fatigue ... and then Andor came out.  

Great storytelling is possible outside of the limits of what has come before.  Plenty of room to freshen up the old tropes.

[Bosco685]

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Listen to Feige’s full interview on “The Movie Business Podcast” here.

By the way, the 15 minute interview can be heard for free - no podcast sign-up required.

[ComicCents]

As i grow older i have lost touch with the superhero story considering it is all too "Disney"  nowadays but I speak as a casual who doesn't keep up with the fast paced MCU. For me, movies and shows like Deadpool, Peacemaker, The Boys are more my go to in my life right now.

[jsilverjanet]

i think that youtuber keeps going to the same argument about the "politics" Disney keeps pushing that has turned off fans

while yes some fans have been turned off, there is far more content than ever before, across multiple platforms and far more competition

specifically on Disney/Marvel, the stories have been to similar (bad stories) and the goal has been to appeal to the lowest common denominator (bad comedies) there isn't a greater plan at work for people to really care

these have just become bad popcorn movies, rinse and repeat

[D2]

I think fatigue is always a factor, where I will actively dismiss works simply because I am tired of the genre. Superhero, Horror, Action, Comedy, Crime Noir... all have their tropes and become increasingly difficult to watch over time.

I think a good story will bring me back, and I will always give a good story its attention, but, personally, when fatigue sets in, that decreases the chances of me considering watching a movie, even if it's good.

As an example, I waited to watch the new Spider-Man series because I couldn't handle Spider-Man anymore. It wasn't until the 3rd movie, No Way Home?, where I binge watched the first 2 in preparation for the 3rd.

The Batman, with Patinson? I really didn't want to watch that one, because I was exhausted of Batman films...

Please Note: I enjoyed Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3, and didn't really enjoy Batman past the 1st act.

Edited January 27, 2023 by D2

[paperheart]

Hopped off the MCU express after Endgame other than the two Spidey flicks (underwhelming), did see The Batman (2/3's good & 1/3 terrible) and TSS (all terrible). Do like The Boys.  Have watched or re-watched hundreds of movies since start of 2020 and, other than those previously mentioned, have had no desire to watch/ re-watch any CBM with a couple of exceptions: V for Vendetta, Sin City. IMO, the movies increasingly have had nothing new to say/offer. So, fatigue or ennui- whatever you want to call it. I grew out of reading superhero comics for the most part as well. C'est la vie.

[Gatsby77]

FWIW, I think the best superhero film of the last three years was Everything, Everywhere All at Once.

It deserves the Oscar nomination love it's gotten so far...

And it says something that it was easily a better multiverse film than either No Way Home or Multiverse of Madness.

[jcjames]

On 1/27/2023 at 11:56 AM, Axelrod said:

I think you can get "Big climactic CGI fight" fatigue.  

As soon as the BCCF started at the end of "WandaVision", I knew I had BCCFF. 

 

[Mr Sneeze]

The novelty is long gone and my nostalgia long spent. These stories simply work better for me on newsprint and in most cases, only work on newsprint. But I'm an old man with a penchant for grumpiness.